BP signs multibillion dollar LNG deal with China
BP has signed a multibillion dollar deal to supply liquefied natural gas to China Huadian Corporation over two decades.
LNG
Petronas says it remains committed to Canadian LNG project
Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) PETR.UL said it is committed to its Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG) project despite the tumble in oil and gas prices which has hurt the state-owned oil company's profitability. The project would see Petronas build an export terminal near the British Columbia port city of Prince Rupert, a natural gas pipeline and ongoing gas development. Petronas had reached a deal with British Columbia in May on the proposed project, drawing it closer to its final investment decision. "Petronas would like to reaffirm its commitment to deliver long term LNG supply to its customers through the Pacific NorthWest LNG project in Canada, despite the current market volatility for oil and gas," its chief executive officer for Upstream, Wee Yiaw Hin, said in an emailed statement.
Deal between trio of LNG firms scrapped after negotiations reach stalemate
A trio of companies have ended their planned merger after the parties failed to agree on terms. The deal would have created one of the largest floating LNG infrastructure companies between Flexlife LNG, Geveran and Exmar. The companies had agreed on main terms for the transaction in July this year but it was still awaiting due diligence as well as agreement on some finer details.
Australian regulator delays decision on Shell-BG deal
Shell’s $70billion deal to buy BG Group has been queried by Australia's competition regulator who has delayed approval after fears it could reduce the supply of natural gas to local customers and raise prices.
Petronet appoints new boss
Petronet has announced Shri Prabhat Singh is taking over as the Indian LNG producer's new chief.
Repsol wins approval from Canadian regulators to export LNG
Repsol has received approval from Canadian regulators to begin exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its Canaport import facility. The National Energy Board of Canada granted a 25-year permit to import as much as 312 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year by pipeline from the US and western Canada. It will then be converted to six million metric tons of LNG at a new on-site facility.
Oil Search rejects Woodside’s $8 billion offer as too low
Oil Search Ltd. rejected Woodside Petroleum Ltd.’s $8 billion takeover bid, saying the proposal undervalues the company’s liquefied natural gas expansion plans in Papua New Guinea. “The feedback we got from all the major shareholders we consulted with confirmed that the proposal was one that should be rejected,” Oil Search Chairman Rick Lee said on a conference call Monday. “The proposal on whatever basis you apply was significantly undervaluing Oil Search and certainly not one that encouraged us to consider it further.” Woodside’s bid of one share for every four Oil Search shares, which implied a 14 percent premium, was too low to win investors’ support, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. and UBS Group AG. The offer last week valued Oil Search at A$11.65 billion ($8.1 billion) and would have been the biggest energy takeover in Asia. Oil Search fell as much as 3.1 percent to A$7.22 in Sydney trading, while Woodside slid as much as 3.5 percent to A$27.43.
Amec Foster Wheeler wins LNG contract
Amec Foster Wheeler has been awarded an engineering contract by Felguera IHI for the expansion of the Zeebrugge Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Terminal in Belgium. The contract will be delivered over the next 15 months with the company’s scope including detailed engineering of the boil-off gas recovery system and associated facilities. The LNG Terminal is owned and operated by Fluxys LNG from Belgium.
Russia’s Novatek to sell 10% in Yamal to Chinese fund
Russia's second-biggest gas producer Novatek is close to selling a 9.9 percent stake worth an estimated $900 million in its Yamal liquefied natural gas project to a Chinese investment fund, Kommersant business daily reported on Monday. The deal may close in the coming weeks, the daily quoted three sources familiar with the talks as saying. It quoted one of source as saying the buyer was China's infrastructure fund Silk Road.
LNG vessel owners form first ship pool as spot trade expands
Dynagas Ltd., GasLog Ltd. and Golar LNG Ltd. agreed to jointly market their liquefied natural gas tankers for spot charters as trading of flexible cargoes widens. The Cool Pool, the first-ever LNG carrier pool, will open in September with 14 ships, the companies said Tuesday in a joint statement. It will include accords for 12 months or less. LNG spot trading is expanding as new Australian supply adds to output and the US prepares to start exporting the fuel from its Gulf Coast this year. New importers including Egypt are driving demand as buyers under long-term deals such as Japan and South Korea curb purchases amid lower usage. Spot fixtures in the LNG shipping market rose to 97 this year through the middle of August from 78 a year earlier, according to GasLog, which owns 19 carriers.
Prices drop as higher LNG send-out offsets Norwegian outage
British gas prices fell on Monday due to an oversupplied transmission system, helped by rising liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal send-outs as new tankers sailed for the UK. Rising flows from the South Hook LNG terminal in Wales offset the impact of maintenance at Norway's Kollsnes gas processing platform, which has resulted in restricted exports to Britain. "This reduction has been more than offset though by a ramp-up in send-outs from South Hook, nominated at 51 million cubic metres/day (mcm). Though flows have yet to physically reach this level," said Marcel Boonaert, head of trading and portfolio at Wingas UK.
Thailand’s PTT to buy LNG from Shell, BP via long-term contracts
Thai state energy firm PTT PCL has won approval to buy a total 2 million tonnes a year of liguefied natural gas (LNG) from Shell Eastern Trading (PTE) and BP Singapore PTE Ltd in long-term contracts, the energy minister said on Thursday. Shell Eastern and BP will supply 1 million tonnes each to state-controlled PTT from 2017, Energy Minister Narongchai Akrasanee told reporters after a meeting of the ministry's policy and planning office. As part of the 15-to-20 year contracts, PTT will import 0.5 million tonnes of LNG from Shell Eastern and 0.317 million tonnes from BP in April 2016, Narongchai said.
Oil Search boosts production target on record output
Oil Search has increased its production targets after achieving a record quarterly output in the second quarter of the year. The company said it now expects its production to be between 27 and 29mmboe (million barrels of oil equivalent). A previous estimate by the Papua New Guinea focused oil and gas producer had been between 26 and 28mmboe.
Shell disposes of $630million Elba LNG interest
Oil giant Shell is to sell its equity interest in Elba liquid natural gas company for Kinder Morgan for $630million.
As Indonesia gas demand falters, floating LNG plant lies idle
A $400 million floating plant for changing LNG back to gas has sat idle off Indonesia's coast for around six months despite only being commissioned last summer, hit by faltering demand for the cleaner fuel as oil prices drop and the economy slows. The stoppage could stoke government worries over the strength of appetite for gas in Southeast Asia's largest economy, another blow to the administration of President Joko Widodo which has been pushing for greater consumption of the fuel to curb pollution and diversify energy sources. Tepid Indonesian demand also means more liquefied natural gas is likely to spill into regional markets, already struggling near their lowest since before the Fukushima crisis in 2011 boosted usage as Japan shut all its nuclear reactors.
Japan May LNG average import price hits lowest since 2009
Japan's average price for imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell to its lowest since September 2009, dragged down by declining oil markets, offering relief to the countries' utilities which had been burning record amounts of the fuel after the Fukushima disaster. LNG import prices averaged $8.84 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in May, the lowest since $8.28 in September 2009, Reuters calculations based on finance ministry data showed on Monday.
Shell, Japan firms may get stake in Gazprom’s Baltic LNG, report says
Russian gas company Gazprom may offer up to 49 percent in its Baltic LNG project to a strategic partner and the most likely candidates are Royal Dutch Shell or a consortium of Japanese firms, Russia's Kommersant newspaper said on Wednesday. The agreement may be signed this week during an economic forum in Russia's second city of St Petersburg, it reported, quoting sources in the gas industry.
US Department of Energy authorises natural gas exports to Canada
The US Department of Energy has authorised Pieridae Energy to export natural gas to Canada. The company has also been given permission to export LNG produced from natural gas from Canada. The authorisation was issued earlier this month after Pieridae Energy made the application to export up to 292 billion cubic feet per year of natural gas via the Maritimes US and Canada pipelines.
Ophir Energy signs deal with Golar LNG
Ophir Energy has singed an agreement with Golar LNG for a project in Block R in Equatorial Guinea. The binding heads of terms for a midstream chartering and operating services agreement outline the terms for Golar to build operate and maintain the floating liquefication and storage vessel and facilities on the Ophir-operated Fortuna floating liquefied natural gas project in Block R.
ExxonMobil boss urges support for LNG exports
ExxonMobil’s president said the US could be at risk of losing economic opportunity and the ability to solidify its role as a “global leader” unless the government moves to approve LNG exports. Rob Franklin, president of ExxonMobil Gas & Power Marketing, said it was important to make sure the case of LNG exports did not become “just another casualty of bureaucracy." The company has recently embarked on a $10billion project to convert the LNG regasification terminal at Golden Pass , Texas, into an LNG export terminal.
Woodside shuts down LNG plant
Woodside Petroleum has been forced to shut down its $15billion Pluto liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant after a submersible drilling rig began to drift near to its flowlines. The Australian operator said the move was taken after the rig was torn from its moorings in a cyclone. The rig had been drilling at Chevron’s Wheatstone LNG project nearby.
LNG shipping rates fall to lowest since 2010 in boon for traders
The cost to ship super-chilled natural gas has tumbled to the lowest level in more than four years and is forecast to fall further. That’s good news for buyers and sellers of the fuel. Rates to transport liquefied natural gas have declined to about $50,000 per day and will probably go lower before recovering, according to Andrew Buckland, a London-based analyst at Wood Mackenzie Ltd. That compares with more than $140,000 a day in 2012, the energy consulting firm found in a report last month.
Chevron slows spending on Canada LNG project on volatile markets
Chevron Corp is slowing spending on the Kitimat liquefied natural gas project on Canada’s Pacific Coast amid a crash in oil prices and competition from new projects worldwide. The San Ramon, California-based producer is also delaying all final investment decisions except for its Tengiz field in Kazakhstan, Chief Executive Officer John Watson said on a conference call on Friday. He did not elaborate on the slowing of investment in Canada.
ExxonMobil signs MOU to supply gas in Papua New Guinea
ExxonMobil has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to supply natural gas to power plants in Papua New Guinea. The company said it would begin preparations this year to drill an appraisal well at the P’nyang field, which is co-owned by Oil Search. ExxonMobil said the reserves could “enable expansion of the PNG LNG project which could include the development of a possible additional train”.
BG loads up first QCLNG cargo
BG Group has loaded up its first cargo from the QCLNG (Queensland Curtis Liquefied Natural Gas) project. The company said the first vessel being loaded is from the Methane Rita Andrea. A second cargo will be loaded onto the Methan Mickie Harper which is expected in Gladstone in the first week of January.